Meet Adeola Ajayi

Today we’d like to introduce you to Adeola Ajayi.

Hi Adeola, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
12 years ago. I lived in extreme poverty, without any hope of me acquiring any type of college education. My five siblings and I with my parents lived in a room in a tenement building. We were so poor that we can’t even afford to eat a square meal. As a kid, I looked for a way out of poverty through basketball; I went through so much rigorous training without basketball shoes on my foot or food in my stomach.

My two brothers and I usually slept on a bamboo mat in the hallway, because the room is too small to contain us. We rarely have electricity, so we will place a local lantern above our head at night to scare the mosquitos away, and also to keep us from being accidentally trampled on by the neighbors at night. (We’ve actually been trampled on, accidentally on different occasions).

In 2009, I secured a basketball scholarship to further my education and also pursued the dream of becoming a basketball player. A few months later, I discovered I had stressed fractures on my both shins. I could not play to my full potential any longer to secure a basketball scholarship to college. I was kicked out of HS at that time, because I sent $200 home to help my father that was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer, who later died of lack of treatments on June 4th, 2014. I was blessed to have parents that taught me how to believe in myself. I persevered through those hardships, believed in my dreams, and also believed that one-day things will get better.

During my time in high school, I discovered an artistic talent I never thought I had with assistance from my art teacher, Mr. Kunath. This talent has helped me to create many artworks that get me through financial difficulties. In addition, I started an LLC TrinityArtz.

A semester after my high school graduation, and many applications to colleges, I received the greatest opportunity, anyone, one could ask, to attend College Of the Ozarks, a work-study school in Branson, MO. “HARD WORK U”. In my second year in college. I went through surgery in other to take another shot at basketball. There was a complication in surgery. The Dr., told me I was going to die. Here, I am today. Despite all the challenges that I had encountered, I am still alive; standing strong. I graduated from college with Public Relations and a Minor in Graphics Arts. I became the first person to graduate college in my family. There’s nothing impossible in this world if you believe and are ready to work for it.

Looking back on the time I spent back in Africa. I realized the factor to my injury, was playing on concrete flooring throughout my childhood without good basketball shoes. I drew upon these personal experiences and founded the Adeola Ajayi Foundation – a non-profit organization with the goal of changing this reality and the lives of countless boys and girls on the African continent through the power of sport.

Adeola Ajayi Foundation travel to the African continent and conducted camps for boys and girls between the ages of 7 and 12. In our second annual basketball camp, we provided over 150 basketball shoes with socks, 0ver 200 basketball jerseys, we served over 2000 plates of food. the conducted mentorship program and community service. In addition to hosting camps, Adeola Ajayi Foundations also planned on building basketball courts and conducted outreach programs in communities of need throughout Africa. We also planned to return to Africa in April 2022 to host the 3rd Annual Adeola Ajayi Basketball Camp.

I’m presently working as the Lifestyle coordinator for Cordish Company at One Light and Two Light Apartment Downtown KC. I’ve been working here since 2019.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Artist painting. I own Trinity Art. I’ve created so many pieces of work.

I am also a model at Exposure Talent Agency. All my past work and experience includes:

Major work:

• Sporting KC / Mazuma
• Applebee’s
• Wingstop
• Kansas City Wedding Magazine
• Kansas City Space Magazine
• 435 Magazine
• Stop Motion: (Find Your Space Campaign) Kansas City Airport – Still running
• Planet Fitness workout instructional videos (App, Tv ads, Social Media ad)

What was your favorite childhood memory?
My favorite childhood memory is watching my dad perform magic on canvases with his strokes of paint with his brushes.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.adeolaajayifoundation.org
• Instagram: Modeling: @Toyingmodel, Art: @Trinityartz2
• Facebook: Modeling: @Toyingmodel, Art: @Trinityartz2